Frederick P. Gibbon

“ Day and night the guns of both sides barked and thundered, and the strain on the gunners would have been considered unbearable before the Great War had taught the lesson that the limit of man’s endurance cannot be calculated. British and Germans lost more guns and gunners here in a week than an army would have lost in a year’s campaigning in any previous war. At night, high above the flashes of our 18-pounders, the beautiful coloured stars and golden rain of the German signal-rockets recalled memories of Belle Vue nights. ”

“ The flares at night showed up in silhouette the figures of ration and ammunition carriers and of transport men, and brought swift destruction upon them. The runners who bore messages from one headquarters to another took their lives in their hands every time. Even for those few who were endowed by nature with the sixth sense of locality the odds were against their safe arrival and return. But the average town-bred lad has little sense of locality, so the carrying of a message meant wandering in a maze in which lurked enemies real and imaginary, varied by tumbles into shell-holes. ”

“ My admiration for the conduct, fighting qualities, grit, and endurance of all ranks is profound. Never have I met a more responsive, willing and lovable lot of men than these Lancashire lads, and, to my last days, I shall remember with affection and pride the three and three-quarter years that I have had the honour to command them. I know how well you, officers and men, will add to the great name you have already earned for the Division, I wish you the best of good fortune and a rich reward. ”

“ In the afternoon the 10th Manchesters were ordered to move into position for a night attack upon Riencourt. Crossing the Bapaume—Peronne road they were heavily shelled, and an enemy observation plane kept in touch only a few hundred feet above them. Machine-gun bullets raised spurts and dust all around or glanced off the stones, and several road-mines exploded close to where they passed, sending up great columns of earth. It was Oldham Wakes Friday, and the men talked of bygone wakes and of the people at home, and made grim jests in contrasting past and present. ”

“ On April 25 General Sir Ian Hamilton’s army landed, the 29th Division at various beaches of the southern extremity of the peninsula, around Cape Tekke, Cape Helles, and the village of Sedd-el-Bahr, and the Anzacs on the western shore a dozen miles to the north, just beyond the headland of Gaba Tepe. The loss incurred had been appalling. The marvel was that the feat had been accomplished. History records no grander achievement, no more inspiring example of heroism. Surely men who could achieve the impossible as these had done could go anywhere or do anything! ”

“ They had been made at a time when little thought was given to “batter” and “berm,” and, under the influence of rain, frost, and thaw, shell fire and trench-mortar fire, duckboards had disappeared under pits of mud, and walls had collapsed and blocked the trenches in a tangle of wood, rabbit-netting, and mud. It seemed enough to ask a man merely to keep alive in the awful discomfort of the trenches in winter, and under such conditions to carry on the offensive and defensive work of the garrison. ”

“ Within rifle range of the enemy, and under observation in the daytime, it would hardly seem the place in which to congregate. With divisional baths and a reading and recreation room in full swing, the street was a crowded thoroughfare, and when night fell limbers and wagons passed through in an unending stream. Men lounged in the doorways of ruined houses, smoking, passing remarks on things in general and critical comments on drivers and animals. ”

“ These were the most trying hours that the Lancashire men had ever known. “If ever man knew terror, I knew it that night,” said one of the officers, and the others admitted that his experience was theirs no less. It cost them a real effort to appear calm and collected, and to talk to their men in tones of apparent unconcern. No sound pierced the stillness of the night save the occasional crack of a Turkish rifle, or of one of the fixed rifles left in the trenches, and now and then the bursting of a shell on one of the southern beaches. ”

“ The operations of the end of May, the digging in No Man’s Land to push the first line closer to the enemy, while the Turk knew perfectly well what was intended and had been able, by the light of a waxing moon, to thin out the working-parties, had been highly dangerous and trying to the nerves. The losses had been deplorable, but the will to overcome the difficulties and to face the dangers with resolution had prevailed, and had given officers, N.C.O.s and men confidence in one another. Each platoon, each company, knew that it would not let the others down when the big event should come off. ”

“ THE SUEZ CANAL AND SINAI
(January, 1916—March, 1917)
The Division remained at Sarpi Camp, Mudros, until the middle of January. Gallipoli had left the body weak and the spirit dulled; every unit was much below strength, and most had less than half, and some barely a quarter, of their full establishment. Death, wounds and sickness had played havoc with the organization, and squad, platoon, and company drills disclosed the fact that the men had lost much of their barrack-square smartness, but drills and exercises, guards and pickets soon put an edge on the dulled blade. ”

“ You are fighting in the cause of righteousness and freedom, fighting to defend the children and women of our land from the horrors that have overtaken other countries, fighting for our very existence as a people at home and across the seas. You are offering your all. You hold nothing back, and day by day you show a love so great that no man can have greater. We, on our part, send forth with full hearts and unfaltering will the lives we hold most dear. ”

“ Bales of hay, sacks of bread, drowned mules, were washed down the ravine into the sea. On the night of the 26th a still fiercer storm raged in the peninsula, a storm as [55] disastrous to the combatants as any that ever affected armies in the field. The flood-gates of heaven indeed opened, and at Anzac and Suvla the trenches were quickly waist deep, and the current swept down like a mill-race—kit, equipment, rations, even men, being washed away. In places the trenches filled, and the troops must drown or stand on the top, a sure target for the Turk had he not been in a like predicament. ”

“ Under such conditions men lived and moved, and even kept a stout heart. Weak and emaciated, they crawled about the trenches, but when work or fighting was to be done they never shirked, and did not give in until compelled to do so. They had by now absorbed some measure of the philosophy of the East, and, borrowing a phrase from the enemy when things seemed at their worst, they encouraged one another with the remark: “Never mind; there’s always to-morrow.” ”

“ The pride the Indians took in the smart and clean turn-out of their mules and carts was the more noticeable as they did not appear to be subject to the ordeal of inspection.
The journeys of the ration-parties from Battalion Headquarters to Company Headquarters were no less exciting than those of the battalion transport parties. Bearing heavy boxes or bags on heads or shoulders they crossed from trench to trench in the open, tripping over wire, stumbling into holes, dodging rifle fire, and, too often, falling victims to the sniper. But the rations arrived and the men were fed. ”

“ These bridges, Putney, Crowder, and Vauxhall, rose and fell several feet with the tide, at times making the approaches and exits, down and up very steep gradients of the Yser’s muddy banks, a matter of the greatest difficulty. They were shelled all day and machine-gunned all night, with the result that they were frequently smashed, for the Germans had the exact range. Troops, working-parties, and ration-parties had to make their way across the swaying planks, carrying full equipment, and often two petrol-tins full of water, or bags of rations, a trench-board, or a box of ammunition. ”

“ Before they could be brought to a standstill still further troops, with hordes of machine-guns, moved forward through the wreckage of the others, forcing their way to the flanks and even to the rear of the British positions. The greater the number shot down the more they seemed to multiply. The enemy was staking everything upon the success of this gigantic onslaught, and he was fighting with a courage, skill, determination, and confidence in numbers which would mean the triumph of Barbarism unless met by still greater resolution and endurance. ”

“ Shells were still crashing into the houses, and machine-gun bullets flew around, but these were utterly disregarded in the exultation of the moment. Women threw their arms round the necks of the soldiers, old men embraced them, girls ran to them with cakes and flowers and wine. The horrors of a long captivity were forgotten in the joy of victory and the impulse to welcome and honour the victors. The enemy artillery made a special target of the Prisoners of War cage and hospital, in which were two English doctors and about thirty British patients, and shelled this quarter vigorously. ”

“ A barrage is a terrifying thing to be under, as always a few men are knocked out by splinters or ‘shorts,’ but it is necessary to keep right under it and prevent the Boche putting his head up before you are on top of him. We would advance, then kneel down to wait for the barrage to creep forward, and by the light of the bursting shells I could see right down the line, and it was a wonderful sight. The men were in as straight a line as though dressed on parade, every man motionless on one knee, the moon glinting on bayonet and steel helmet. ”

“ Training had now begun in earnest, and before long a new stimulus, a fresh incentive, to efficiency appeared, and the prospect of the Division’s participation in actual warfare became less remote. During October the suspicion that Turkey might take the plunge and declare herself on the side of the enemy had become a probability. An attempt to incite Egypt to revolt, and, indeed, to persuade Mohammedans throughout the world that the day had dawned when a swift blow should destroy British supremacy for ever, might confidently be looked for; and an attack upon the Suez Canal would surely follow. ”

“ They gave way before a furious bombardment and counter-attack, and the Haricot, once more in Turkish possession, proved a fatal obstacle. With their right flank exposed to the concentrated fire of innumerable machine-guns the Naval Division, cruelly reduced in numbers—one brigade losing sixty officers—were compelled to fall back to their original line, leaving the right flank of the 42nd Division in the air, the gap being 300 yards from front to rear. The Turk possesses individual initiative and resource in full measure, and he was quick to take advantage of the situation. ”

“ With the exception of the few hundred thousands who had received some training in physical drill and discipline in the Boys’ Brigade and its daughter-organizations which teach discipline, self-respect, and esprit de corps, or in the School Cadet Corps, all were utterly untrained, and they hated discipline. England had clearly shown that she was too selfish to submit to any form of compulsory service; too wrapped up in the love of comfort, ease and luxury to do more than bribe fools to die for her. ”

“ Though some units have distinguished themselves more than others, the Division has, throughout this arduous period, displayed a dash in attack and a spirit of determination and [47] endurance in defence which is worthy of the best traditions of the British Army. The persistence with which the enemy were held off during the recent determined attack, and part of the ground lost gradually recovered in face of strong opposition, was a fitting conclusion to the period during which the Division has been in front line. ”